Willow
is a one-shot from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Classic comic book series. Written by Amber Benson with Christopher Golden, and illustrated by Terry Moore with Eric Powell, it was originally published on April 18, 2001 by Dark Horse Comics. Synopsis Christopher Golden, popular author of Buffy comics, novels, and reference books, brings together an amazing team on this first Willow and Tara special. Amber Benson, indie screenwriter and the actress behind Buffy's Tara, and Terry Moore, the award-winning creator of Strangers of Paradise, team with Golden for a chilling look into the witchcraft subculture of UC Sunnydale. One girl's envy of Willow and Tara's friendship threatens to unleash new horrors on Sunnydale, and neither Buffy nor the rest of the gang are around to help the young witches."Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow and Tara - Wannablessedbe". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved January 08, 2019. Summary Willow and Tara are having a picnic while skipping Astronomy class. Caitlin Macklin, a colleague from the Wicca group they had left, suddenly invites herself to join, suggesting the three of them should found their own group, with real magic. Willow and Tara quickly find excuses to leave, even lying that their interest in witchcraft was just a phase. Later that night, Willow, Anya, and Xander are in line to enter the Bronze. Xander notices Willow is still guilty over her “stalker”, but she defends Caitlin describing her as just too enthusiastic. The leader of the Wicca group, Kelly Eisen, overhears them, and says Caitlin is a loser that has been mooning over Willow and Tara after they left the group. Angrily, Willow points out Kelly's hypocrisy on preaching "benevolent earth goddess stuff", but calling someone a loser for having different beliefs. Entering the club, Willow tells Xander and Anya she fells even guiltier for the group ostracizing Caitlin, but they argue that the girl was still horning herself in Willow's relationship with Tara, and it wasn't her job to play big sister to Caitlin. Meanwhile, Caitlin goes to Tara's dorm room, having found a spell she wants to try with her. She begins reciting the spell, but Tara stops her, warning that spells are dangerous even when spoken by an amateur. Being called an amateus angers Caitlin, who storms out calling Tara selfish, and runs away into the woods. Tara prays that Thespia keeps the girl safe. Still running, Caitlin trips, falls, and her book falls open on a certain page. She uses the indicated spell, summoning Morrigan. Elsewhere, a murder of crows attacks Kelly, then tree branches take Stacy Barrett away. The next day, Willow and Tara see the firemen rescuing Stacy's corpse from the top of a tree, and someone comments Kelly has been pecked to death by birds. They realize someone is killing members of the Wicca group with magic, and agree on who could be the responsible. They visit Caitlin in her dorm, who has been crying with guilt, but tells them she had no idea this would happen. In the hallway, Tara explains to Willow that Morrigan is a powerful and evil Celtic deity, who must have punished those Caitlin perceived as a threat. With Giles and Buffy unavailable, Willow decides to warn the other girls, while Tara researches how to stop Morrigan. Outside, when Willow finds another girl, Dana, dead, she hurries back to Tara Meanwhile, Caitlin tries to get close to Tara, but she asks Caitlin to focus on the research. Willow enters the room and sees them holding hands, just as Tara was taking Caitlin's hand from her. Tara immediately explains that they were just talking about magic, and nothing could have happened because there was magic only between Willow and her. Accepting this, Willow then tells they need to hurry as Morrigan just made another victim. Tara says she has an idea on how to stop Morrigan and they'll need help — but not from Caitlin. Later that night, all the remaining members of the Wicca group are gathered. After Caitlin explains the situation to them, Willow and Tara take the girls into the forest to begin the ritual to save their lives. Morrigan then appears and attacks the group, but is held off by a spell. With their combined powers, Willow, Tara, and the other girls defeat Morrigan. The next day, all the girls are having a picnic together, and Caitlin approaches them once again. She apologizes for trying to intrude in what Willow and Tara have, and tells the group she won't be doing much magic for some time, as she had become the group president of the Wicca group. While she leaves, Willow and Tara remark that Caitlin will probably still cause them more trouble. Continuity *Willow and Tara deals with members of Daughters of Gaea, the Wicca group they last participated in "Hush". *Anya cautiously refers to Willow and Tara's relationship as "friendship". Willow had introduced Tara to the Scooby Gang in "Who Are You?", but will openly mention her as her girlfriend in "The Yoko Factor". *Buffy and Giles are still in Los Angeles to assist Angel, having left in Past Lives, Part Two. Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya will eventually go to LA themselves in Past Lives, Part Four. *Velvet Chain plays at the Bronze, as they had in episode "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date". Appearances Individuals *Angel *Stacy Barrett *Dana *Kelly Eisen *Rupert Giles *Alexander Harris *Anya Jenkins *Jessica *Caitlin Macklin *Tara Maclay *Morrigan *Willow Rosenberg *Buffy Summers *Thespia Organizations and titles *Daughters of Gaea *Scooby Gang *Sunnydale Police Department *Velvet Chain *Witch Species *Higher being *Human *Taglarin millopod Locations *Los Angeles *Sunnydale **Bronze **University of California, Sunnydale ***Stevenson Hall Rituals and spells *"Malevolentia carbonis" Death count *Stacy Barrett, pecked to death by Morrigan's crows. *Kelly Eisen, stabbed by Morrigan's trees branches. *Dana, engulfed into the earth by Morrigan's trees roots. Behind the scenes Production *This is the first Buffyverse comic story co-written by Amber Benson, who portrayed Tara in the television show. She would also write Willow & Tara: Wilderness and "The Innocent". *The photo cover features a montage of promotional stills taken for ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' season 6. *The story uses the figure of the Morrígan, from Irish mythology. *The Bronze differs in its appearance in the comics at this point, with a consistent facade of two large statues since its first comic appearance in Wu-Tang Fang. *The original comic issue included a letter written by Benson on her personal journey with comics, entitled "Being a Girl". Distribution *'' '' was the 105th best selling comic issue in its publishing month, with 17,762 sales in April 2001 at comic specialty stores."April 2001 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops". Comichron. Retrieved January 09, 2019. Collections *''Willow & Tara'' *''Omnibus: Volume 6'' *''Classic 40: WannaBlessedBe/Demonology Menagerie'' Pop culture references *Tara mentions cartoon character Yogi Bear, known for his interest on picnic baskets. *Caitlin has a poster of the band The Gathering on her dorm room. Gallery WannaBlessedBe.jpg|Terry Moore main cover S5 Willow 08.jpg|Original picture for photo cover Tara Maclay9.jpg|Original picture for photo cover Quotes Tara: "Willow? Look at me. Would I ever do anything to hurt you? You're my best friend and I love you. I could never work spells with anyone else. There wouldn't be any magic in it." Willow: "I know. I was just a little, okay, whoa, y'know? But I do know. That was beautiful, what you said? And you didn't stutter once." Tara: "My heart doesn't stutter." References nl:WannaBlessedBe Category:Dark Horse Classic Category:Buffy comics